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Monday, October 7, 2013

(PHOTOS) Nigerian acid attack victim weeps with joy as her eyebrows are restored

Naomi Oni, 21, had acid hurled over her face, head and body as she made her way home to Dagenham after her shift at Westfield's Victoria's Secret store last December. The acid burned off the skin on her face and scalp and left her temporarily blinded. She lost her eyelids, eyebrows and some of her hair in the assault. Since then, surgeons have painstakingly rebuilt her features including taking skin from the back of her ear to make new eyelids for her. But her eyebrows remained permanently damaged. Now, ten months on, her skin has healed enough for her to have her eyebrows restored. Naomi had a sophisticated semi-permanent make-up treatment that tattoos on the eyebrows as individual hairs, mimicking the effect of real brows. She said: 'It has been very difficult to come to terms with.My doctors have been brilliant but it will take years of laser surgery to repair my face.There is only so much you can do at any one time – then there is long healing process before you can undergo the next stage of the treatment.It is only now that I had been able to have semi-permanent make-up on my face.'I loved having the treatment – it feels so good to have my eyebrows back. 'What I loved about the treatment was its intricacy – it is a form of cosmetic tattooing. It is the closest you can get to mimicking the appearance of the original brow. I did get a bit emotional when I saw them. It's the first time I have seen myself with eyebrows for almost a year.' Naomi, from London, is still at a loss to explain why she was targeted. She said: 'I asked, "why me?" I work hard, I'm a good person.I'm the same person now but stronger.I want to say to my attacker, "You can burn my skin but you can't burn my soul."' Naomi was on the phone to her boyfriend after returning from work when she was attacked in Dagenham, Essex, on December 30 last year. She said: 'I felt a splash – that's when I thought, someone's out to kill me.I just started running straight home. I knew it was acid. It feels like something is eating way at your skin. I felt it most on my scalp, more than my face.' She arrived at her home shouting and banging on the door, screaming 'acid, acid.' Her family came to the door thinking she was excited about something. Then when her mother opened the door, Naomi said everyone's faces 'just dropped.' Naomi is on leave from her job at Victoria's Secret lingerie store at Westfield shopping centre in Stratford, East London, while she recovers. She eventually plans to return to work and pursue her dream of becoming a make- up artist.Naomi was last night honoured for her bravery with a prize at the Inspiration for Women Awards at Cadogan Hall in Chelsea. Naomi's attacker, Mary Konye, a Nigerian also 21, from Canning Town, East London who is currently facing trial has been charged over the attack and will stand trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court in January. Dailymail Before the attack picture: